Nightmares
by Ten Past Twelve
Summary: When the Volturi are attacked by a manifestation of pure evil, the Cullens are forced to fend off not only a crazed Aro's attack, but also their worst fears... The nightmare has begun.
1. Beginning

**Nightmare**

A Twilight Fanfiction

It had started off as a normal day- well, as normal a day for a family of vampires, that is. We were idly sitting around, Jacob messing with a truck, and Renesmee watching him. Emmett was out in the forest, felling trees, and we could hear the loud thwacks of his axe against the yielding wood, echoing in the sunlit clearing.

"So, what should we do today, Carlisle?" Edward asked his creator and adoptive father. He already knew the answer, of course, but it was for the benefit of his siblings, daughter and wife- me.

"Well, nothing seems to be happening, so what would you suggest, Bella?" I started, not expecting him to ask me.

"Er... what about hunting again?"

"Really?" Emmett complained from the forest. Even though he was half a mile out, we could hear him as clearly as if he had been standing right next to us. "We hunted yesterday, and I'm still full, so I would imagine the rest of you are, too." I grimaced. He was right, of course. Even Renesmee, who was only half a vampire, unlike the rest of us, wasn't hungry. I thought back to the days when humans seemed to overflow the land, a mass tidal wave of temptation.

"Good thing they decided to populate the seas. Otherwise we might have gotten a tiny bit crazed with thirst. Jacob, you have no clue how lucky you are- the thirst is incredible!" I said, speaking my thoughts.

"I think I might have a vague notion," he chuckled. When Renesmee was younger, she used her talent of sharing her thoughts to fill Jacob's- and our- minds with images of blood. Edward suddenly leapt up, and froze like a statue, or ice sculpture. None of us needed more confirmation that something bad was about to happen, but Alice's shocked hiss as she read the future was confirmation enough.

"What's happening?"

* * *

Alec groaned, half of his right arm looking as if a meat cleaver had messily slashed it off. That couldn't have been the case though- the only one hurt in that scenario would be the cleaver. So what had gone wrong?

"It was something dark, and scary. It attacked Volterra, and killed- killed Jane! It didn't seem affected by her gift or Alec's, and looked bizarrely like you, Bella, except it wore an expression that no vampire could. Alec, what is it?" Alec shook his head.

"It was a look- a look of... evil. Not just malice- real, pure hatred. It couldn't have been your mate, that I know, but Aro- he just declared war on you. This is a real problem, Cullens- he won't stop till you- you're all dead."

"Wow. So did Aro do this to you?" I indicated Alec's arm.

"No. That was... the beast."

"Did you bring your missing pieces?"

"That would have been too risky- I left in the dead of night, while Aro planned the attack. Caius wasn't so enthusiastic though- an attack based entirely off Jane's death isn't his idea of fun."

"Ironic." Edward mused. "He was all for killing us that time with Irina."

"Things change, though, right?" I pointed out. Edward turned towards the tent entrance as Alice ducked out.

"You can't see the beast." It wasn't a question.

"Yes!" Alice moaned, exasperated and wringing her hands. "I don't know what it's next move will be, or even what will happen tomorrow- and Jacob and Nessie aren't helping either."

"Well, we should just wait around to see what it'll do. We'll be better prepared than the Volturi, at the very least." Although all of us questioned his judgement, none of us argued with Edward. A deafening howl sounded, giving me a major headache. Vampire senses were strong, sure, but sometimes they were a little _too_ strong, if you catch my drift. Head still ringing, I crouched defensively- the howl wasn't just a migraine; it was also the signal; the beast had, indeed, followed Alec to Iceland, which was where we were.

* * *

The dark creature nodded to itself. The red-eyes had powers that it enjoyed possessing, and soon it would take the boy's powers, too. Killing wasn't exactly necessary, but it was an exciting experience, a challenge of the greatest sort, killing the vampires. It knew that the Italians would be attacking the yellow-eyes here, in revenge for the murder of Jane, the painful one. Not for the first time, the creature thanked it's lucky stars that it could copy nightmares and fears- otherwise, the murder of Jane would have been near-impossible. If there was a creature without a soul, it was the Nightmare.

* * *

**Okay, so that's the end of Chapter One; Beginning. Might I just add that if I really _did_ own the Twilight series, then you can bet your soul that it would go like this! BTW, this story is set in the 2330s, okay? So after the predicted melting of the poles, and when scientists say that humanity will start moving underwater. Central America is utterly submerged, the British Isles don't exist any more, and Hawaii is a distant memory.**

**This is going to be one heck of an adventure, let me assure you. Subscribe to changes! Oh yeah- one last thing. Bella recently celebrated her 301st birthday, so if Zafrina or Benjamin refer to a party later on, you'll know what it means.**


	2. Stronger than Vampires

**Nightmare**

A Twilight Fanfiction

The creature approached, hands up. I assessed it, calculating our odds, and they were fairly optimistic. Sure, the beast had ravaged Volterra, but that meant nothing- surprise was a key factor, a factor the creature no longer could count on. Or so I thought.

"Give me the boy." His voice rippled through the air- or should I say thoughts? The way he spoke was remarkably like Renesmee, yet he had not needed to touch us. Maybe he had some kind of power-copying gift? But he had never met us before-

"I wouldn't be so sure, Mrs. Cullen. I'm sure you've seen me some time ago." I blinked, shocked. How had he gotten past my infallible defenses? Was he some kind of mirage? "Don't worry, vampires. I am no mirage, illusion, or anything of the sort. No, scratch that. Worry very much."

"Why would you chase after this pitiful creature now, after all you've done to him? Stolen his sister, taken his arm- is there any other way you wish to harm him?" Carlisle spoke for all of us, although Alec snarled reflexively when he heard Carlisle's description of him- he still had some pride, after all.

"Life is not too hard a thing to lose, Cullen. Besides, his time has come. He must, _must_, be taken- his time is, well, up."

"I would be the judge of that." A light, feathery sigh came from across the clearing, on the other side of our little campsite. I mentally groaned. This day was just getting worse and worse. "Now, Alec, it was undeniably irresponsible to desert us like that, even in the face of your sister's demise. I am still willing to forgive this near-intolerable act, but first you must prove yourself; kill the murderer, and earn my forgiveness- let her live, and suffer my fury." Aro might have been chiding a naughty child caught red-handed, for all his voice showed. His face, however, was different. I was reminded of a devil, for that was the first word that came to mind- a crazed, insane devil. He was torn between a livid, murderous, rage, and a horrified, cringing fear. I wondered what he was so scared of, when it occurred to me that the beast was still there. As most would when surrounded by two threats, I turned to the greater- the beast- and asked it a question.

"Wait- could we give you something else? Like, say, the Vol-"

"No, fool! The Volturi are a force for good- destroying Aro or Caius would imbalance the scales so much that time itself would end in mere millennia!" he snarled. I thought 'he' because of his form- it looked vaguely like Edward. "Besides, their lives are not yours to give." he added, foreseeing my retort- that millennia was ages for us. Behind me, Aro murmured "Too right." In response, I shot a frosty glare at him.

"Give me the boy. Now." Only then did Aro realise who the 'boy' was.

"No!" In that moment, several things happened. Aro, Felix, and Demetri leaped forwards, colliding with Alec, who had bounded in the opposite direction of the creature- in other words, the right way. The creature moved at a blinding speed- even our powerful sight could not see more than just a blur of white- and then it was over.

Pieces of Aro and his two guards lay on the floor, trying in vain to regroup. They might as well have erupted into flames; the creature took one look at the moving body parts and suddenly spouted a plume of fire into the air, causing us to leap backwards fifty yards while the remnants of the vampires burned.

"Now give me the boy." His unspoken demand rang through my ears- head- but it was unthinkable to surrender anyone to the monster. I almost even pitied Aro, and then, when I considered it, I couldn't help gasping. Here was a creature that could defeat three vampires in one stroke. Here was a creature that was faster, stronger, and more invulnerable than a vampire- and I'd thought that _we_ were immortal!

"Would you stop describing me as 'the creature' in your thoughts? I have a name, you know."

"And what might that be?" Edward actually seemed intrigued, in spite of himself.

"Ha, like you don't already know- leech?" The retort trailed off into a question as he looked at Jacob questioningly.

"Well, I know it's Nocturne, but then things go chalky-" He paled, almost as if he had become a ghost.

"Edward, what's wrong? What happened? I don't- oh." It all became clear to me now. Here was a creature that not only could defeat three vampires in half a second, but knew nearly everything about us, and could read my mind- my quirky, strange, silent head, as I called it.

"Now, give me the boy, or suffer the consequences. I hear Renesmee is _particularly _breakable... hmm..."

"You wouldn't." I half-snarled as I saw what he meant.

"Bella, I didn't have to think twice before destroying three vampires, and trust me, a couple of shape-changers are no match for me. I am, after all, your worst nightmare."

"Explain." I didn't shift out of my defensive stance as I demanded more information.

"Well, look at me. Who- or what- do I resemble?" Something about him changed- maybe it was his eyes, or maybe his arms, or maybe his whole body- but something changed, and now I found myself staring at an exact copy of Edward. I faltered, just for a few tenths of a second- enough for him to slice through the air at what seemed was the speed of light- faster than Edward could ever have gone- and, using the same technique or skill that he had dismembered Aro with, he quite frankly demolished the vampire. It had all taken less than half a second.

"What- what are you?" We all wanted to know that.

"I am your worst nightmare."

**Okay, I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn in any way, shape or form, but that doesn't stop me from hoping...**

**So far I've kept the chapters short, and if that displeases you, then don't worry- Chapter Three will be waaay longer, and it'll include some information on the Nocturne and it's origins.**

**Keep on reading!**

**PS. Remember to subscribe to changes in order to follow my every chapter...**


	3. The Hunters

Nightmare

A Twilight Fanfiction

**Hey, everybody! May I just mention that I obviously do _not_ own the Twilight series or any of it's characters- Wait, do I really need to say this?**

**Anyway, this is the chapter that sees the appearance of the Night Knights, an order of vampires that consists of the Volturi Rebels, some of the vampires that stood with the Cullens in Breaking Dawn, and a 'true' werewolf. As well as that, this chapter is told from a rapidly changing perspective (POV)- Happy reading!**

* * *

Benjamin ducked. Why hadn't he started drinking animal blood like the Cullens? _Because you're an idiot, that's why!_ Cursing under his breath, he beheaded another rookie officer that had made the mistake of getting in his way. Ever since the Hunters of Egypt had discovered his coven, he had been on the run- unlike the vampire hunters of the Middle Ages, the Hunters knew exactly what killed Benjamin and his kind. So far, the four had agreed to split into two groups of two, mate and mate. Then it had seemed like pure genius. Now, it was the stupidest thing he had ever considered. Dodging another flaming bullet, Benjamin pulled out his trusty sword- the Quaker. It was programmed to return to him no matter what, and to help it, it had the same supernatural power he did- power over the elements. These days, he was quite capable of creating mini-sandstorms, among other things. Throwing Quaker at his adversaries, he summoned a fireball, which he hurled at the nearest car. It exploded.

Tia hauled her mate up on to the safety of the rooftops. Now that they had cleared away all of the Hunters in the immediate vicinity, they were free to worry about greater things. For example, the Southern Wars had moved from Brazil all the way to Africa, and now huge newborn armies, dozens strong, razed the land. With deaths happening all over the place, the Egyptian government was right to be worried- but maybe creating the Hunters was a little overboard, all facts considered. Benjamin glanced over the skyline of Cairo, and was about to leap back off the building, when Tia held out a restraining arm and pointed towards some shiny lights in the sea of darkness. Confused, the Egyptian vampire focused more, drinking in all of the details. He almost wished he hadn't.

* * *

The eagle lazily circled the brass tower, it's eyes glinting wickedly in the moonlight. It was several times the size of your average eagle, and it's talons and beak reflected light in much the same way as gold would. Otherwise, perfectly normal for an eagle. At least, until it alighted on a rooftop at dawn, and became something else.

* * *

Narka stared sightlessly at the female he was hunting. He grinned roguishly, recalling a time when his best friend Karan had felt such a pull towards prey- fortunately for this girl, he was ill-disposed to repeating his friend's mistake. Instead, he stood, stock still, waiting to snap out of the hunting trance. Narka, unlike other vampires who chose to live without human blood, was able to observe as if from a third party. This was mainly because of his gift- the ability to see through other's eyes, ears and nose- literally. The skill helped a lot, especially seeing as he was blind, though his eyes didn't show it. Often, he used Karan as his eyes, but today he would need all of his concentration in changing the curious fourteen year old who he believed was called Anne.

* * *

Now he shifted his consciousness until he saw what Anne saw, felt what she felt. He was surprised in more than one way- she seemed immune to the biting cold of the Scandinavian air that other humans felt so badly. Once again, he grinned- this time, he didn't feel his own muscles move to form the facial expression. Instead he watched, through weak, human eyes, a strangely blank-looking face conform into what resembled a smile- without the emotion.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked her. Or rather, the body asked her.

"Yes." Well, nothing defied that logic.

* * *

In Volterra, Caius nervously paced around the huge castle that they had inhabited for the past hundred and fifty years, ever since the Flood had absolutely extinguished the flames of the old city. Obviously, the Volturi had survived, and had begun the ordinarily labouring task of rebuilding Volterra- in their own image. Now it was, in effect, a vampire haven that lived in symbiosis with several hundred blood donors. It's doors were open to virtually all vampires in existence, save for the few that had disobeyed the rules and lived.

Aro hadn't returned in a week, but luckily, neither had the beast. Caius could only assume that both his brother and the creature had either died, been mortally wounded, or a combination- he fervently hoped that Aro had survived, although he would never admit it. What would he do without the other ancient, especially when three-quarters of the guard answered only to him, he had no idea.

* * *

Nocturne lashed out at two of the Hunters. It had phased in front of them, not knowing that they were dedicated to hunting the supernatural, and now the powerful being was hard pressed to kill each and every one of them- and it wasn't the killing that was hard. It had to absorb each of their memories from their dead bodies, not knowing how advanced the technology of these humans was- certainly advanced enough to slay a werewolf or shapeshifter, but sadly not enough to eradicate Nocturne.

Downing two in one destructive blow that had been enough to crumple a cement mixer, he spun around faster than time and snarled threateningly, ready to crush another wave of the humans. What he saw was much worse. A small army of tanks was heading his way, and helicopters circled the surrounding buildings. It knew that it could simply just freeze time and crush them all, but that would render the humans immune to it's life-draining power, which it needed to feed on them and remove their memories. Groaning, it morphed in to an intimidating, phantasmal-looking, wolf that was easily the twice the size of a house, and prepared to wrench the life out of their little, frail bodies.

* * *

**Renesmee POV;**

I stroked Jacob's arm, curled up beside him in the bed. Contentedly, I sighed, and Jacob started humming his tuneless song, the one that I always liked. I didn't understand why Mum and Dad disliked his smell so much- though they were careful not to wrinkle their noses around him, I could tell- when it was so nice and woodsy. Mum had described his smell like that in a conversation, and she agreed that his smell was okayish, at least when she was human. On the other hand, my Jacob was very unsubtle about his uncomfortableness with my parents' smells- he said that it hurt his nose a lot. I myself loved both of the smells, beautiful lilac and honeysuckle mixed with the earthy odour of Jacob.

The vampires were edgy. The confrontation in the clearing was deeply unsettling to them- they had thought that with the discovery of half-vampires like me, they had found out about everything in the supernatural world. I honestly didn't see why they had imagined that everything was over- they had done so with the discovery of werewolves, and when they found- created- me. Now they were completely immobile, Mum lifting her shield from her thoughts so that Dad could read her mind, too. That set me thinking. If the creature- Nocturne, Dad had called it- could read Mum's mind, then that would mean that it was like me, except that it was more like Dad with the telepathy thing. Hey, I thought, maybe Nocturne's a half-vampire, too. Maybe- no, but it was amazingly fast, and it could conjure flames. I just had to leave it with that is was far more vampire than my family.

* * *

**Nocturne POV;**

I snarled, ripping off a man's head, fresh blood coursing through my veins. As more Hunters surged through the doorway of the building I had captured, my face split- literally- as I transformed into something better suited to dealing with my foes. Within seconds, I had assumed the shape of a Sky Demon, a strange human-bird hybrid that could control air and electricity. Of course, the prime part here was that it could drain the personalities of a multitude of humans just by raising it's hand, turning them all into mindless zombie-like slaves.

Soon I was the only being left standing. I staggered a little, because of the massive number of souls I had just ingested. The Hunters, or at least their remains, burned merrily, sending thick black clouds of smoke into the air. The people of this town would die by the next day. Feeling no guilt or sadness, I transformed again, this time into a rat that had tentacles tipped with wickedly sharp blades rather than arms. Using the tentacles, I easily clambered up a nearby building to a rooftop, my blades cutting into the bricks almost as easily as they cut into human flesh. I speak from experience.

On the rooftop, I took out my mobile phone. I felt uneasy using it- most of the time it attracted swarms of the undead, ghosts and reanimated beings that I had destroyed- but this time, I had no choice. I was needed to give the flock the all-clear.

* * *

**Bella POV;**

A dank, mossy ruin buried deep in the Amazon Rainforest. We- Edward, Nessie, Jacob and I- were examining some ancient scripts etched into the walls of the temple, hoping to find something that could tell us more about the Nocturne. I played back the scene in my head, remembering with perfect clarity the faster-than-lightning moves of the strange creature. So far all we had found was a yellowed piece of reed parchment proclaiming the "ultimate evil" and "utter cruelty" the "demonfriend" possessed, and a long rhyme that went like this;

_Skarlath the Eagle was cruel and evil,_

_He had an empire based upon such..._

_But one day the DemonFriend and his great legion,_

_Destroyed all the sky-people and conquered it all..._

_Naskara Esth is the Golden Witch Queen,_

_All her long life is spent trying to defeat,_

_The soulless and evil of the DemonFriend,_

_Who she is so sure will bring about the world's end..._

_Not from this planet, though not from the skies..._

_When Nocturne appears, the end is nigh..._

_When blade of an army and umpyrs meet..._

_The end of all life is surely to be..._

All in all, not very promising. I was beginning to think that this was a waste of time, when Nessie called out to us;

"Mum! Dad! Come here!"

She was sitting on an intricately carved stone bench with Jacob, next to a large shelf that bore many aged manuscripts. Reading from a thick, musty tome, she said;

"Once many were demons and angels of the rainforest, until the Nocturne came. It drained the forests of life, the tribes of soul, the land of richness. Then it left, but the tribespeople never forgot the amazing power the demon had over life, death, and nature..."

"How does that help-"

"Shush, Jake. This is the good part. The Nocturne, although called the Demonfriend, was no ally of the demons. Indeed, Nocturne was in fact a predator to the creatures referred to as demons, and they loathed each other more than humans can even begin to comprehend."

"Lucky we aren't human, then."

"Shut up. The Nocturne could steal people's lives from them with just a touch, and could copy the shapes of beings to gain their powers and qualities. All in all, a formidable beast. Soon, however, the tribes found that the Nocturne's presence in their rainforest gave them the power to transform into animals, and soon there were entire tribes of these animal-people. Some moved north to the Polaris Solar, while others stayed put in their forest. However, being away from the Nocturne had no effect on the powers, nor did it stop the children of such tribes from transforming once they became of age."

"Wow. So, that's how the pack appeared?"

"It would seem so." I just tensed up- something was in this room with us. I quietly released my shield from my thoughts to tell Edward, and a quick nod in my general direction told me that he had already known. I quietly retracted the second layer, mentally shielding my little family from mental attack.

* * *

**Benjamin POV;**

A line of tanks was moving towards us.

"Tia, call the Knights! We need serious backup."

"Certainly." She let out a shrill whistle, and in almost a minute we had three vampires and a furry, bow-legged man with us.  
"It's not enough, but it'll have to do." The six of us turned to face the line of tanks, ready for the last stand. That was when all hell broke loose. The ground split open with an almighty crack.

"Ben, is that you?"

"No, it's something else! Duck!" Several mountains of stone began throwing themselves around, scarring the tanks as well as us. A chunk of my shoulder flew away from the rest of my right arm, and a particularly heavy rock dislodged several of my bones. Summoning up all my willpower, I commanded the air to form a shield of wind around us, and soon we were surrounded by debris on all sides. A few small lumps of granite littered the floor underneath us, and as I stood, completely immobile and waiting for some... sign... one of them slowly, almost deliberately, rose into the air.

A boy strode into the globe I was sustaining. At a glance, it was obvious that he was not normal- for one, it would have taken several vampires and a few days to escape all the rubble. There was something else though- a strange aura of menace that exuded from his person, some kind of subtle threat. Whatever it was, it wasn't nice.

The boy raised his hand, in what he seemed to think was a gesture of peace- even so, we had no clue of what he was going to do next. In a flash of white light, Tia had vanished from her position next to me, and a newly lit bonfire was roaring next to the boy. Putting two and two together, I leapt, outraged, at the child. He just stood there, defenceless, but I did not register that until it was too late.

I flew through the air, snarling viciously. All I wanted to do was cause the git as much pain as possible, regardless of what it could do to me in payback. I ignored all voices of reason, including my comrades', intent only on- WHAM.

* * *

**Carlisle POV;**

The invisible barrier was certainly an innovation I had not realised the monstrosity capable of, and it effectively halted Benjamin's attack. I was much more interested, however, in the way that the creature summoned up a horde of creatures from the Beneath Lands. I had come across the ancient texts of a summoner when I was younger, in the Volturi's old place, but I hadn't realised that such arts and necromancy was even possible. But the Nocturne did it, levitating an encrypted spell book before him- he had called up an army of demons from lands long sealed away by ancient gods. This was why I believed in gods, even if I never told anyone, or thought about it near Edward. If there was no heaven or hell for us, then the demons would not exist, and neither would angels. But mainly demons, as one is rarely a good vampire. I had had this particular brainwave when reading the old necromancers' texts in the Volturi archives- it had interested me far more than it did them, as they were never ones to hold magic dear. But I did, and one word in the yellowed papers stood out from all the rest- _umpir_. Old Venetian for vampire, it was proof that the old wizards- or necromancers, at least- knew that vampires could go to heaven or hell as well as the rest of them. Seeing the Nocturne bolstered my courage and my thoughts, and I scoured the ranks of the demons with my eyes to see a familiar face- and gasped when I saw Tia, her face scarred, hair matted and almost a skeleton, with two bony bat-like wings sticking out of her back at odd angles- the look on her face was like the one Rosalie wore when she was created. I averted my gaze, instead to look at the where the Nocturne had got to. He had vanished into a small cave-like opening in the pile of giant boulders, and fleetingly I thought about following him, although I had to abandon the thought when two men who appeared to have been hewn out of rock stepped from the lines of demons and squatted next to the tunnel entrance.

About an hour later, a large explosion in the top of the mountain made me start, and my head whipped up to get a view of what was happening. It seemed that Nocturne had destroyed Tia and was now in combat with Benjamin, her mate. Something- somebody- fell from the top, smoke trailing after him. It was Ben. Moaning, he called up a miniature hurricane to put out the flames that were consuming his jacket, and as soon as he was done, I questioned him;

"What happened?"

"Tia... dead... monster... hand in... chest... powers..."

"What, he killed Tia and stuck his hand in your chest?"

"Yeah, and now... he can do whatever... I can... do..."

"Oh dear, now this is going to be bad." Flipping open my cell phone, I hit the speed dial and called Alice.

* * *

**And so we end on a not-so-reassuring note, with Tia dead, and Benjamin badly injured. In the next instalment, we'll learn a little more about the full extent of the Nocturne's powers, and we'll see Edward, Bella, Jacob and Nessie journey to a realm no vampire has ever been before...**

**If you enjoy this story, check out my new fanfic Heroes, a story based of Spore- more specifically, the expansion Galactic Adventures. If you don't know how to tell a Yggdoffl from a Schendulan either, check out my Spore profile and creations at . Simply open the Sporepedia and search, 'terrahawkthezorg', 'Ambiguousthezorg', 'Tanith', 'Twarda', or any of the creatures' names, like 'Yggdoffl' or 'Puppet', although generally the best idea would be to search them from my Sporepage. Later.**


	4. Apocalypse

**Nightmares**

**A Twilight Fanfiction**

**Okay, a (growing) number of you seem to think that I, the awesome and very modest writer of this fic, am a girl. Therefore, I'd just like it to be clear that the author of the best Twilight fanfic ever is a boy. And always will be, because Nicole is NOT getting her hands on this one. Even if I have to slice them off. And since I don't feel like sticking the letters POV and a semicolon behind a name every time I change points of view, I'll just write the name in bold print from now on? You get it?**

The thing reeked of clay and mud. It's eyes appeared to have been gouged in to it's craggy face by a clumsy hand, and it's nose was a simple blob roughly in the centre of the face. A long, unsightly gash in it's lower face seemed to act as a mouth, and whoever- or whatever- created it had neglected to give it ears.

"Hurr..." Mumbling, it extended a rocky, misshapen hand towards me, barely flinching when Edward sunk his teeth into it's wrist, despite the ominous cracking sound that the attack made. To my great surprise, the four hundred year old vampire was inexplicably thrown backwards by some invisible force, clutching his lower jaw, and I saw that the cracking sound had actually been my lover's teeth.

"Golem, stop." The rock-figure stopped suddenly, and a familiar figure stepped out of it's shadow. Though he was wearing a different form, this one with eyes in a light purple shade and brown hair, it was pretty obvious who it was. Nocturne had come.

**Carlisle**

Shortly after Benjamin had fallen from the crater, smoking, the Nocturne had taken flight, after setting an army of gigantic birds upon us. Fortunately, Benjamin was still quite capable of manipulating the air, and he made short work of our feathered foes. Less fortunately, the demons that Nocturne had summoned earlier had started to attack the nearby human settlements- namely, Madrid and New Barcelona.

"We can't stay- we have to warn the others!"

"Yes, but I fear that that is the action that our opponent wishes us to take."

"Well, what else can we do?" challenged Benjamin, eyes wild. Evidently, seeing his mate killed had slightly unhinged him.

"We can fight the demons here."

"No, there's no point! The humans here are already dead anyway, and the demons look pretty powerful."

"Oh, very well," I snapped, "We'll go and warn the others. Who first?"

Benjamin cracked a smile. "We should head over to Egypt first, to warn Amun and Kebi. Then we can go over to Iceland, where some of your family are- what's wrong, Carlisle?"

"Behind you," I said flatly. A glowing white beam of light hit the younger vampire in the back, and he was instantly frozen in a block of ice. A moment later, the icy prison shattered, and Benjamin turned around, to face his foe. It was a curious little creature, the size of a child but with almost adultlike proportions, and two spiny wings sticking out of it's shoulderblades. It's skin was a vicious, raw red, and it's eyes glowed with terrible evil. The final touch was a horned helmet that seemed to be attached to it's head, and matching gauntlets, one of which was glowing a faint white.

"Skar-lee-loo!"

**Edward**

"Now, before you four try and kill me, I'm sure that you'd love to hear me out."

"Just tell us what you want, Demonfriend." I sighed- I couldn't get a reading on his thoughts. It wasn't like Bella's shield- her mind felt like it wasn't there, that it was invisible. The Nocturne's mental barrier was just that; a barrier. It was almost like a wall, except that you can go over or around a wall, and this wall seemed endless. Nocturne seemed to have felt my efforts at breaching his mind, because his face contorted into a bitter, sad smile and he faced me. Moving faster than light again, he appeared next to Renesmee, who had gone very still as soon as the golem appeared, and frowned at the book she was holding for no discernable reason. Bella shivered convulsively under my protective arm.

"Get away from my daughter!" she snarled.

"Aw, the liddle vamp wants me to stay away from her daughter. Isn't that sweet?" Nocturne leapt backwards suddenly, just in time to dodge a powerful swipe from Jacob. Getting to it's feet, the creature grinned mockingly and clapped his hands in an imitation of an eccentric teacher. "Right, down to business. I'm sure that you all want to stay alive, and so we might as well get cracking. My employers will be here soon, and while they wouldn't object to me rescuing some lower demons, I could hardly expect them to let any they come across survive!" Pulling out a strange sceptre, he patted the animal skull on speared on the top and pointed it at the brick wall behind us. I noted with some shock that Bella was hissing at the skull angrily, almost as if it had threatened someone she cared deeply for in front of her. Nocturne, also watching her, chuckled with apparent amusement at her obvious displeasure and tapped the sceptre on the flagged stone floor, calling out a strange word as he did so. The entire world fell away from us, and I found myself standing on a huge boat made out of a white substance, the stench of blood heavy in the air. Jacob wrinkled his nose in disgust, while Nessie and Bella- and probably me- were positively drooling at the scent.

"Welcome, boys and girls, to the greatest ship ever to sail the eighteen oceans! Welcome to the _Blood Taker_!"

**Short chapter mates, but now we know slightly more about the Nocturne and his motives. Kudos to those of you who've already figured part of it out. And yes, the _Blood Taker_ is sailing on a sea of the red stuff. If you think I'm talking about Ribena, I will hunt you down and kill you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or even Breaking Dawn (although I have copies of all four of them) or the characters Bella Cullen, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Renesmee "Nessie" Cullen, Carlisle Cullen, Benjamin, or any other characters in this fic, save for Nocturne and his Golem. And no, just because I write Pokemon fics doesn't mean that the golem in this one is a Pokemon. It's actually just a man fashioned out of rock and given life. So THIS IS NOT A CROSSOVER. **

**AND WHILE CAPS LOCK IS ON... I FEED ON REVIEWS. FEED ME!**


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